I remembered the direction that I had come from. It was strange how well I could remember the path. I ran; no hesitation, confident about where to go, quickly making my way back, only stopping when my weary legs buckled and forced me too. What am I doing? I found myself wondering. This felt like a fool's quest; I had spent most of this night running from a bunch of thugs, and now that I’m free from them what am I doing? I’m running back to help them. Though to be honest the main reason I had made this decision was because of my concern for Rosary. But it still was something that was far out of my norm.

I followed the sound of screams; the sound of curses and yelling, making my way to where the fighting was happening — reaching the entrance to the shrine I burst in and was greeted by a sight that felt far too familiar. Three bodies littered the floor; the first was the moleman whom I had watched earlier have his arm sliced off. Huge gouges in his face made him unrecognizable, the only thing that gave away his identity was his ratty like skin and the lack of an arm. Another mole-man lay nearby, his body sliced in half, his torso only connected to his hips by some skin intestine looking like they had been dragged in the fight hanging in shreds like fleshy confetti. The last was the snake-like man, his body so full of gashes that his body seemed to have become covered in its fluids.

Shit, this was REAL; I knew that of course but still; This IS real. My chest itched like crazy replacing the burning sensation; I almost preferred the burning the itching was harder to ignore. Adrenaline seemed to have kicked in; I froze in place, the terror of what I was seeing chilling me to the core; I’m going to die; it seemed so obvious.

“Hahahahaha.”

Something laughed at me inside my head, a laugh that seemed to break through the frozen state, laughter that seemed to inject hot magma into my brain. I get it, you’re an asshole that likes to fuck around with peoples’ heads, I don’t have fucking time to deal with you. The most inopportune times I swear. Couldn’t this asshole pick a better time, like when I’m not trying to fight to the death?

A shrill feminine scream echoed in the chamber; immediately I thought of Rosary, my heart skipping a beat, please don’t die Rosary, I pleaded.

“But she’s already dead.”

I ignored the voice in my head, searching for where the scream had come from; I found it. That scream hadn't been Rosary. It was instead the demi-human woman from before, who was being assaulted by the slug-like beast now cornered and frantically trying to get away. The creature flailed its appendages like an angry newborn child, Satan's newborn. The woman seemed able to move fast enough to avoid most of the flailings; many still scratched her though bloody lines appearing in her dark skin where they had hit. Her clothes were in tatters; modesty was all that they protected now leaving her large bunny ears exposed, those ears flapping like crazy as she jumped with inhuman agility. One large gash seemed especially prevalent in her shoulder, and blood seeped from it uninhibited, a tentacle nearby her stuck in the wall, blood covering it.

The clang of metal brought my attention to the other fighting that was going on; tentacles seemed to be striking out from the shadows, no body only the shadow of the ruins attached to them. The rest of the group looked to all be fighting off the tentacles from the center of the room where the moonlight that poured in was strongest. The limbs of the beast seemed to weaken and die when the light of the moon touched them as if their lives were being sapped away by its glow. The group of men appeared to be trying to make their way to the woman, but with no luck, for as soon as they made a step outside of the protective ring of light they would be attacked with a hungry ferocity.

I didn’t see Rosary here at all, where was she? Could she really be dead? I stopped that thinking; immediately, the thought too hard and harsh to face.

I watched as the woman started slowing, she would be shredded soon, something needed to change, I didn’t want to get near that thing, but she would be dead if I didn’t do anything. I rushed over to the first dead body, grabbing the spear that lay near him. The creature ignored me, the closer I got to it the worse the itching in my chest became. The beast lifted its husk, its body touching the ceiling of the room, a roof that was far above my head. It seemed ready to pounce. I slammed into it, spearhead first. A wailing scream filled my ears, and it collapsed sideways. I stumbled, practically falling right into it. Something that would have been very ill-advised, as doing so would have meant a nice mean hug right through its spiked body.

The bunny woman glanced over to me for a moment then bound towards her companions. I rushed to try to join up with them, hoping that they might have a plan, but tentacles blocked my path, wriggling angrily at me.

The mass of spikes and wriggling tentacles righted itself from its fall and turned to me, or at least it seemed like it had. With no identifiable face or even top or bottom, it was hard to tell. I tried to pull out the spear which had become planted in its body, but a swing of a tentacle that I avoided stopped any hope of me using the spear again as the haft became demolished.

“Do NoT InTErfERe!”

A caustic voice echoed in my head, a mass of tentacle colliding with me slamming me, causing me to become airborne for a moment, sending me straight to the other end of the room, my body hit with a dull crunch. It seemed I had gotten its attention. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have any protection on me. Nothing, I would be mincemeat immediately if it got a hold of me. I needed to change that, somehow.